Support for flexible doors of kitchen cabinets



1,627,736 y 1927' A. |.-s. HALVORSEN SUPPORT FOR FLEXIBLE DOORS OFKITCHEN CABINETS Filed May 14, 1926 ratenteaxna 10,1927. UNITED STATES I1,627,736 PATENT OFFICE.

AXEL I. S. HALVORSEN, OF lALIBANY, INDIANA, ASSIGNOB TO MCCORMICK BROS.COM- PANY, OF ALBANY, INDIANA,

A CORPORATION OF INDIANA.

Application filed May 14,

This invention relates to supporting means for flexible doors, composedof slats,

.1, the door being used in kitchen cabinets and the like. Generally, thedevices used for receivingthe doors are grooved plates extendingrearwardly from the doorway, across the comsupporting devices whichoccupy'small space at the front of the compartment, near its top, andthe door, when raised, coils into these devices and does not extendacross the compartment, making it possible for fittings to be insertedinto the compartment-through its top, if desired. The door supportingmeans comprises a pair of flat metal disks,

secured to the sides of the compartment, each disk having a central bossand a surrounding arcuate flange, the latter spaced from the former toprovide room for the edge of the door to coil around the boss and theends of the flange terminating at the opposite walls of the adjacentdoor guide in the cabinet, so that when the door is raised, its edgespass from the door guides into these supports and the door coilscompactly in the upper forward part of the compartment, leaving anunobstructed space at the rear.

In the accompanying drawing, which illustrates my invention,

Fig. 1 is a vertical section, taken from front to rear, through part-ofa kitchen cabinet equipped with my improved door supports; J

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section'on the line 2 of Fig. 1-;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail View of the support and adjacent partsshown in Fig.

shown partly coiled within the support;

Fig. 4 is a View similar to that shown in Fig. 3, but illustrating asupport having a larger central boss and suitable for doors havingrelatively thin slats; and,

thefltop of the strip 4.

1926. Serial No. 109,683.

Fig. 5 is a central section through a modilied form of support, having aroller which constitutes a central boss of the support.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 3, inclusive, of the drawing, (it represents acompartment of a kitchen cabinet having at its front side a doorwaywhich is adapted to be opened and closed by a door 6, composed of aplurality of slats 1, flexibly connected together, the endsof the slatsfitting, in the usual manner, within guide grooves 2, formed at thesides of the doorway by outer and inner strips 3 and at. To the sidewalls 5 and (S of the casing, adjacent the upper ends of the guidegrooves, are secured the door supports 0 support 0 comprises a flatcircular plate 7, having a central boss 9, struck up from the body ofthe plate, and an outer arcuate flange 10. The inner guide 4: is shorterthan the outer guidestrip, and one end 10 of the flange on the doorsupport is turned outwardly and forms a 11p which rests upon The otherend 10 of the arcuate flange is shown resting against a cross-piece 3,the inner face of which is flush with the inner face of the strip 3.Thus, the slot or opening between the ends and. 0, respectively. Asshown, the door 1 of the flange extends across the upper end of thegroove The door enters the support tangentially through the slot betweenthe ends of the flange. The end 10* of the flange is set' back a littlefrom the adjacent face of the guide groove, so that the flange will notengage the door. The plates or bases 7- of the supports are providedwith suitably spaced openings to receive screws 11 by which the supportsmay be secured to the sides of the casing.

The supports 0 and c, on the opposite sides of the casing, are alike inall re-- spects except that one being at the right side of the casingand the other being at the left, the support 0 is inverted withrespect-to the support 0, and this makes it necessary to turn outwardlythe end of the flange on the support a which corresponds with the end 10on the support a. This outwardly turned end on the support 0' is shownat 10 resting on the inner guide 4 in Fig. 2.

The door is provided with the usual knob 12, on a cross-piece 13 at thelower end of the door, and by raising this knob the upper end of thedoor will be guided by the flanges I of the supports until the end slatmeets the" slat-s entering the supports, and the end slats will then becarried upward around the bosses and the door will coil around thebosses, as illustrated in Fig. 3.

The slats of the door in Figs 1 and 3 are shown to be relatively thickand the bosses 9 are madev relatively smaller in order to provide spacebetween the bosses and the flanges, within which the door may be coiled.

In Fig. 4, the door I) is shown to be composed of thinner slats, and thebosses 9 are of greater diameter than the bosses in the supports of thepreviously described figures. With the thinner slats, less space isrequired between the bosses and the flanges, within which to coil thedoor, and the thin flexible door coils more readily about the largerbosses than it would about the smaller bosses. In Fig. 4, the boss 9" ofthe support 0 is composed of a metal disk, secured centrally to the base7 by a pin or rivet 14.

' In Fig. 5, I have shown a modified form of support 0 in whichthecentral boss 9 is in the form of a roller suitably secured to thecenter of the base 7*, as by a pin riveted to the base.

It will be seen that the improved door supports occupy a small space andthat by their use the door may be coiled in a compact manner in thefront part of the casing immediately above the doorway, leaving thespace at the rear of the supports clear so that a flour bin may, ifdesired, be extended through the top of the casing, or the space at therear of the supports may be otherwise utilized. 7

After the door has been raised until its lower end is somewhat above thecenter of the doorway and its upper end has coiled upon itself about thebosses in the supports,

the friction of the slats on the bosses is sufficient to prevent thedoor from falling by gravity to its closed position. Thus, no auxiharydevices are required to support the door in its raised position.

What I claim is:

1. The combination with a casing having a doorway, grooves at the sidesof the doorway and a door composed of flexibly connected slats slidablein said grooves, of door supports at the upper ends of the grooves, eachsupport comprising a flat plate having an arcuate flange the ends ofwhich are arranged at opposite sides of the adjacent groove, and havinga projection on its face within and spaced from the flange and adaptedto co-operate with the latter to cause;

the door to coil within the support when the door is raised. 1

2. The combination with a casin having a doorway, grooves at the sidesof t e doorway and a door composed of flexibly connect: ed slatsslidable in said grooves, of door supports at the upper ends of thegrooves, each support comprising a flat plate having a central boss anda surrounding arcuate flange spaced from the boss to permit the door tocoil between the flange and boss, the ends of the flange being arrangedat opposite sides of the adjacent groove.

3.. The combination with a casing having a doorway, inner and outerstrips at each side of the doorway, formin grooves, the inner stripsbeing shorter than the outer strips, and a door composed of flexiblyconnected slats slidable in said grooves, of door suppolts at the upperends of the grooves,

each support comprising a flat plate having a central boss and asurrounding arcuate flange spaced from the boss to permit the door tocoil between the flange and boss, the flange having one end outwardlyturned and terminating over the inner strip of the adjacent groove andhaving its other endextended across the groove. i

4. Supporting means for doors composed of flexibly connected slats,comprising a metal disk having an arcuate flange extending around thegreater part of its circumference and having a central boss spaced fromthe flange a sufficient distance to permit the edge of the door to becoiled between the boss and the flange.

5. Supporting means for doors composed of flexibly connected slats,comprising a metal disk having an arcuate flange extending around thegreater part of its circumference and having a central boss spaced fromthe flange a sufficient distance to permit the edge of the door to becoiled between the boss and the flange, one end of the flange beingturned outwardly.

6. Supporting means for doors composed of flexibly connected slats,comprising a metal disk having an arcuate flange extending around thegreater part of its circumference and having a central boss, struck upfrom the body of the disk,spaced from the flange a suflicient distanceto permit the edge of the door to be coiled between the boss and theflange.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

AXEL I. S. HALVORSEN.

